http://turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/2006/06/19/arrests-in-ashgabat/ Just another WordPress weblog Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:37:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.3 http://turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/2006/06/19/arrests-in-ashgabat/#comment-3379 turkmenistan.neweurasia.net » Turkmen Trials and Tribulations Thu, 31 Aug 2006 15:08:15 +0000 http://turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/2006/06/19/arrests-in-ashgabat/#comment-3379 [...] Relatively soon after their arrest in June, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist, Ogulsapar Muradova, a worker for the Turkmen Helsinki Foundation, Sapardurdy Khadjiev, and another human rights activist, Annakurban Amanklychev, were sentenced to six to seven years in jail for illegal posession of weapons on August 25, according to an IRIN report. The conclusion of the trial, which was held under conditions of the strictest security and secrecy, has attracted a chorus of criticism from a range of rights organisations: Tajigul Begmedova, head of the THF, said on Monday from the Bulgarian city of Varna, where the rights group is based, that everything related to the court process was ‘absurd’ and based on ‘trumped up charges’. Alexander Narodetsky, director of the US-funded RFE/RL’s Turkmen service, said from Prague that he could not understand why the trio had been convicted or what for. ‘The charges and the verdicts are absolutely unclear for us. Where did they come from and how was it organised?’ Narodetsky asked. ‘Everything was happening behind the closed doors. There were no observers allowed and the whole thing was concluded very fast,’ he said. Begmedova said the fact that the court hearings were held in secret again showed Turkmenistan’s government was not willing to ‘respect human rights or follow a democratic path.’ [...] […] Relatively soon after their arrest in June, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist, Ogulsapar Muradova, a worker for the Turkmen Helsinki Foundation, Sapardurdy Khadjiev, and another human rights activist, Annakurban Amanklychev, were sentenced to six to seven years in jail for illegal posession of weapons on August 25, according to an IRIN report. The conclusion of the trial, which was held under conditions of the strictest security and secrecy, has attracted a chorus of criticism from a range of rights organisations: Tajigul Begmedova, head of the THF, said on Monday from the Bulgarian city of Varna, where the rights group is based, that everything related to the court process was ‘absurd’ and based on ‘trumped up charges’. Alexander Narodetsky, director of the US-funded RFE/RL’s Turkmen service, said from Prague that he could not understand why the trio had been convicted or what for. ‘The charges and the verdicts are absolutely unclear for us. Where did they come from and how was it organised?’ Narodetsky asked. ‘Everything was happening behind the closed doors. There were no observers allowed and the whole thing was concluded very fast,’ he said. Begmedova said the fact that the court hearings were held in secret again showed Turkmenistan’s government was not willing to ‘respect human rights or follow a democratic path.’ […]

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